EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXVIII

(Unless otherwise indicated, the specimens figured are contained in the collection of W. J. Holland.)

Gynæphora rossi Curtis,
Porthetria dispar Linnæus, ♂.
Porthetria dispar Linnæus, .
Psilura monacha Linnæus, ♂.
Psilura monacha Linnæus, Q.

16. Euproctis chrysorrhea Linnæus, ♂.

17.

19.

Hemerocampa definita Packard, ♂, U. S. N. M.
18. Notolophus antiqua Linnæus, ♂, U. S. N. M.
Hemerocampa vetusta Boisduval, ♂, U. S. N. M.
Hemerocampa leucostigma Abbot & Smith, ♂.
Hemerocampa leucostigma Abbot & Smith, f.
Carama cretata Grote, ♂, U. S. N. M.

20.

21.

22.

23. Lagoa crispata Packard, ♂.

24. Lagoa pyxidifera Abbot & Smith, ♂.

25. Megalopyge opercularis Abbot & Smith, ♂.

(

'Genius detects through the fly, through the caterpillar, through the grub, through the egg, the constant individual; through countless individuals the fixed species, through many species the genus, through all genera the steadfast type; through all the kingdoms of organized life the eternal unity."-RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

The moths belonging to this family are, so far as is known, closely related in many respects to the Geometrida. They differ, however, in having veins 3 and 4 of the hind wing arising from a common stalk at the lower angle of the cell. The family is well represented in the tropics of the New World, but is only known in our territory by the genus Phryganidia Packard, which occurs in southern California.

Genus PHRYGANIDIA Packard

(1) Phryganidia californica Packard, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 6, 3.

The moth, which is obscurely colored, is one of the least attractive insects belonging to the family which it represents. Many of the species are very bright and gay in color, as any student of the fauna of South America knows. The home of the species, as the name implies, is California, to the southern portion of which it is confined.

64

Happy insect, what can be

In happiness compared to thee?

Fed with nourishment divine,

The dewey morning's gentle wine!

Nature waits upon thee still,

And thy verdant cup does fill;

'Tis filled wherever thou dost tread
Nature's self thy Ganymede.

"Thou dost drink and dance and sing,
Happier than the happiest king!
All the fields which thou dost see,
All the plants belong to thee,
All the summer hours produce,
Fertile made with early juice,
Man for thee does sow and plough,
Farmer he, and landlord thou."

From the Greek of Anacreon.

FAMILY NOTODONTIDÆ

"The Beauty which old Greece or Rome
Sung, painted, wrought, lies here at home;
We need but eye and ear

In all our daily walks to trace

The outlines of incarnate grace,

The hymns of gods to hear."

WHITTIER.

The Notodontidæ have been characterized by Sir George F. Hampson as follows: "A family of moths superficially resembling the Noctuidae. Mid tibia with one pair of spurs; hind tibia with two pairs; tarsi short and hairy. Fore wing with vein 1a forming a fork with 1b at the base; Ic absent; vein 5 from the middle of the discocellulars, or rarely from just below the upper angle of the cell. Hind wings with two internal veins; vein 5 from the centre of the discocellulars or rarely absent; 8 free from the base, curved, and running close along the subcostal nervure or joined to it by a bar.

"Larva without the anal prolegs, and carrying the anal somites more or less erect; these often bear paired processes and are sometimes swollen; the other somites are often prominently humped.

"Pupa naked."

An elaborate and very useful monograph dealing with the insects composing this family has been written by Professor A. S. Packard, and is published in the Memoirs of the National Academy of Science, Vol. VII, pp. 87-284. The student will do well to refer to this.

Genus APATELODES Packard

(1) Apatelodes torrefacta Abbot & Smith, Plate XL, Fig.

20, .

The insect is not uncommon in the Appalachian subregion. It ranges from Canada to the southern States and as far west as the Mississippi.